Description V’s Analysis

Essay Question: “Memory gives emotion to the

recorded facts of history.” Discuss this statement
in Mark Baker’s The Fiftieth Gate.

Paragraph Topic: Without the emotive power of

memory, history is incomplete or insubstantial.
Analysis:

The Fiftieth Gate explores the notion that without memory the
recorded facts of history can be vague and incomplete. “What
are these papers anyway, except echoes of the past, dark
shadows without screams, without smells, without fear.”
Through the repetition of “without”, Baker emphasises how
history without memory lacks human emotion and perspective.
By not including the emotive qualities of memory, embodied
through “screams”, “smells” and “fear”, history can only
capture past events in a one-dimensional manner. “Papers”,
the recorded facts of history, become symbolically linked with
“echoes”, alluding to their insubstantial quality.
Description:
The Fiftieth Gate explores the notion that without
memory, the recorded facts of history can be vague and
incomplete. When Baker speaks to his mother about the
town Bolszowce, he is concerned as he can only find a
single paragraph referring to the town. Baker is worried
that no one will believe her story, and she accuses those
in his profession as “idlers living off air.” Baker ponders
history and the role of recorded facts of history, “What
are these papers anyway except echoes of the past, dark
shadows without screams, without smells, without fear.”
Memory gives emotion to the recorded facts of history,
shown in Baker’s The Fiftieth Gate.
Verbosity V’s Succinct Expression

Essay Question: “Memory gives emotion to the

recorded facts of history.” Discuss this statement
in Mark Baker’s The Fiftieth Gate.

Paragraph Topic: Without the emotive power of

memory, history is incomplete or insubstantial.
Verbosity
In the Fiftieth Gate, the author Mark Baker explores the notion that without the
emotional and human experience of memory and personal memories, the
recorded facts of history, including official documents, photographs and reports,
can sometimes be vague, incomplete, or insubstantial. The Fiftieth Gate details
and includes personal memories from Mark Baker’s mother and father, and
collective memories, as well as historical documentation including the recorded
facts of history, and specifically documents concerning the Jewish Holocaust
itself and events that happened either side of the actual Jewish Holocaust, both
within Germany and Poland and where his parents grew up. Within The Fiftieth
Gate, Mark Baker the author explores how history can be incomplete or
insubstantial without the emotion and human feelings that come with
memories. In a quotation, Mark Baker the author shows how history can be
incomplete or insubstantial without the emotion and human feelings that come
with memories, when he says “”What are these papers anyway except echoes of
the past, dark shadows without screams, without smells, without fear. Why do I
crave the contents of this single lone sentence I discovered on a reel of
microfilm, when all it says is what she had repeated throughout her life?”
Succinct Expression
Colloquial Language V’s
Formal Language

Essay Question: “Memory gives emotion to the

recorded facts of history.” Discuss this statement
in Mark Baker’s The Fiftieth Gate.

Paragraph Topic: Without the emotive power of

memory, history is incomplete or insubstantial.
Colloquial Language
The Fiftieth Gate shows things about memory and that with
no memory the stuff of history can be a bit like vague and
wishy-washy. “What are these papers anyway, except echoes
of the past, dark shadows without screams, without smells,
without fear.” Through the repetition of “without”, this guy
Baker shouts *attention* history without memory lacks
human emotion, and perspective etc. And all that. By not
putting in emotive bits of memory, shown through
“screams”, “smells” and “fear”, history can only show an itsy-
bitsy bit of past events and stuff. “Papers”, the recorded stuff
of history, becomes like symbolically linked with “echoes”
which kinda shows their insubstantial quality, doesn’t it?